Rocky Mountain RepRap Fest: All The Cool 3D Printing Stuff

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Rocky Mountain Rep Rap Festival 2023

Have you ever been to a RepRap festival? If you are like me, you may have heard the term but didn’t really know what it was. It has something to do with 3D printing right?

Rocky Mountain Rep Rap festival 2023 attendees

Last weekend I attended the first-ever Rocky Mountain RepRap Festival (or RMRRF for short). The event was free to attend and was held on April 22nd and 23rd. I didn’t really know what to expect. How much could there be in regard to 3D printers? I figured there would be a couple of companies there that made printers and some that made filaments and that would be about it. Surprisingly, I was way off.

Firstly, when I walked in the door, I noticed that it was packed with people! Men, women, children, hobbyist, youTubers, the curious, the professionals, you name it, they were there!

What cool technology was there?

We’ve been following Cocoa Press since World Maker Faire 2017. Now that their machine is available for pre-order, I was excited to get a chance to see it in action.  It was exciting to watch it run and then eat the print shortly afterward. Check out our latest coverage and reserve yours now!!

There were filaments of all kinds. Every color you can imagine, pumpkin scented, and even filament made from coffee grounds!! The great part about printing with coffee grounds is that if you mess up a print, you can just grind it back down and start over again.

There were 3D printed claw machines, guitars, R2D2, droids, printers that can print on the go, printers that print upside down, and even a working 3d printed branch saw!

Friends of Make:

I ran into some good friends of Make:, Joan Horvath and Rich Cameron authors of Make: Calculus, Make: Geometry, and Make: Trigonometry(coming soon!!!)! They had plenty of 3D printed items to help better understand the various math concepts.

I made a new friend, Gus Williams with Raptor House FX, one of the makers of Thing from Wednesday on Netflix (featured in Make: Volume 85). He brought along a creature from Raptor House FX with 3D printed inner parts along with 3D printed armored costumes.
The speed 3D printers were fascinating to watch. Watch the video below!
Play Video about Speed 3D printing!

I had a blast at the Rocky Mountain RepRap Festival and will definitely be back next year! I highly recommend you visit a RepRap Festival near you if you get the opportunity. There was so much to see and do! And if you’re like me, afterward, you’ll leave there, rush home, and order a new 3D printer!!


Happy Making and 3D printing all!!!

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Alicia Williams

Alicia is the Software Engineering Manager at Make:. You may have seen Alicia walking around Maker Faire with her Bat Girl cape. Do not be afraid, she is devoted to saving the world, one website at a time. Her magical powers include turning coffee into code and fixing 404 not found errors.

Alicia has been coding since before coding was cool (OK, we aren’t talking way back to punch cards, but there were green screens involved). In her ‘down time’ she enjoys spending time with her family, reading, puzzles, and is a huge advocate for Autism.

Light it up blue!!

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